Pakistan eager to end 12 year wait

Colombo: The young Pakistan side has started the World Cup on a positive note and will look to secure a berth in the second round of the showpiece event after a gap 12-years, when they take on minnows Canada in their group A match at R Premadasa stadium on Thursday.

Pakistan's last two appearances in the World Cup had ended in disaster as the 1992 champions made a first round exit in 2003 in South Africa and similar story was repeated four years later in the West Indies.

Pakistan did not have a smooth ride coming into the mega-event as spot-fixing scandal severely dented its preparations for the tournament.Pakistan have managed to maintain to win all their games so far but Canada have struggled in their two games.

Canada conceded their first game to Sri Lanka by a massive 210 runs in Hambantota and then were beaten by Zimbabwe by 175 runs in Nagpur.

But Pakistan are in no mood to take the minnows lightly.

"Because of the importance of the tournament we are not going to take any team easy," Pakistan coach Waqar Younis said ahead of the game.

"We played well against Sri Lanka but tomorrow is another game and we need to carry on the momentum. It's still early days in the tournament and bigger teams will come but we are not thinking far ahead," he added.

Coming into the tournament, Pakistan were not one of the fancied sides due to the spot fixing controversy and disputes over captaincy.

But Pakistan's first two matches showed that they seem to have put everything behind as their focus has been on winning the competition.

Even Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara, after his side's 11-run defeat on Saturday, had called Pakistan a 'dangerous side'.